December 19: Eid ul-Adha begins (Islam, 2007)

Genial.Soul · Fun Addict Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 641 Gender:

December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 12 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor.
1154- Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey
1606 - The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery depart England carrying settlers who, at Jamestown, Virginia, would found the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.
1777 - American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
1828 - Nullification Crisis: Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun pens the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828.
1835 - The first issue of The Blade newspaper is published in Toledo, Ohio.
1843 - A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, is first published in England.
1912 - William H. Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which caught fire and killed over 1,000 people, is pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft after three-and-a-half-years in Sing Sing prison.
1916 - World War I: Battle of Verdun - On the Western Front, the French Army successfully holds off the German Army and drives it back to its starting position.
1920 - King Constantine I restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander I of Greece and a plebiscite.
1941 - Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army
1961 - India annexes Daman and Diu, part of Portuguese India.
1963 - Zanzibar receives its independence from the United Kingdom, to become a constitutional monarchy under Sultan Hamoud bin Mohammed.
1965 - Prison guard George Hodson is killed during Ronald Ryan and
Peter Walker's escape from HM Prison Pentridge in Coburg, Victoria.
1967 - Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt is officially presumed dead.
1972 - Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ron Evans and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.
1981 - Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
1983 - The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro.
1984 - The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that the People's Republic of China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from July 1, 1997, is signed in Beijing by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.
1997 - Silkair Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104.
1998 - Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives forwards articles I and III of impeachment against President Bill Clinton to the Senate.
2000 - The Leninist Guerrilla Units wing of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist attack a Nationalist Movement Party office in Istanbul, killing one person and injuring three.
2001 - The fire at the World Trade Center, as a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks, is finally extinguished after three months.
2001 - A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, KhÃ¶vsgÃ¶l Province, Mongolia.
2001 - Argentine economic crisis: December 2001 riots - Riots erupt in Buenos Aires after Domingo Cavallo's corralito measures restrict the withdrawal of cash from bank deposits.
2003 - Nepal financial crisis leads hundreds to protest outside of presidential palace.
2007 - The Islamic festival of Eid-ul-Adha falls on this day

Births

1554 - Philip William, Prince of Orange (d. 1618)
1683 - Philip V of Spain (d. 1746)
1699 - William Bowyer, English printer (d. 1777)
1714 - John Winthrop, American astronomer (d. 1779)
1778 - Princess Marie-ThÃ©rÃ¨se-Charlotte, eldest child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI (d. 1851)
1813 - Thomas Andrews, Irish chemist (d. 1885)
1817 - James J. Archer, Confederate general (d. 1904)
1831 - Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Hawaiian philanthropist (d. 1884)
1852 - Albert Abraham Michelson, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
1853 - Charles Fitzpatrick, Canadian politician, lieutenant-governor of Quebec (d. 1942)
1865 - Minnie Maddern Fiske, American actress (d. 1932)
1885 - Joe "King" Oliver, American jazz musician (d. 1938)
1888 - Fritz Reiner, Austro-Hungarian-born American conductor (d. 1963)
1894 - Ford Frick, American baseball commissioner (d. 1978)
1901 - Rudolf Hell, German inventor (d. 2002)
1902 - Sir Ralph Richardson, British actor (d. 1983)
1903 - George Davis Snell, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
1906 - Leonid Brezhnev, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1982)
1907 - Jimmy McLarnin, former Welterweight Champion (d. 2004)
1909 - W.A. Criswell, American (Baptist) preacher (d. 2002)
1910 - Jean Genet, French writer (d. 1986)
1915 - Ã‰dith Piaf, French singer and actress (d. 1963)
1918 - Professor Longhair, American blues musician (d. 1980)
1920 - David Susskind, American TV talk show host (d. 1987)
1922 - Eamonn Andrews, Irish born television presenter (d. 1987)
1923 - Gordon Jackson, British actor (d. 1990)
1924 - Edmund Purdom, English actor
1924 - Doug Harvey, National Hockey League defenceman (d. 1989)
1925 - Robert B. Sherman, American songwriter
1925 - Tankred Dorst, German dramatist
1927 - James Booth, British actor and screenwriter (d. 2005)
1929 - Bob Brookmeyer, American jazz musician
1929 - Howard Sackler, American screenwriter (d. 1982)
1932 - Salvador Elizondo, Mexican writer.
1933 - Cicely Tyson, American actress
1933 - Kevan Gosper, Australian athlete
1934 - Al Kaline, baseball player
1934 - Rudi Carrell, Dutch singer
1934 - Casper R. Taylor, Jr., former Maryland politician.
1935 - Barbara Bostock, American actress
1935 - Bobby Timmons, American jazz pianist (d. 1974)
1936 - Marian McKnight, Miss America 1957
1940 - Phil Ochs, American folk singer (d. 1976)
1941 - Maurice White, American singer and songwriter (Earth, Wind & Fire)
1942 - Rufus, French actor
1943 - Ross M. Lence, American political scientist (d. 2006)
1944 - William Christie, American-born director of Les Arts Florissants
1944 - Mitchell Feigenbaum, American mathematical physicist
1944 - Richard Leakey, British anthropologist
1944 - Alvin Lee, British singer/guitarist (Ten Years After)
1944 - Tim Reid, American actor
1944 - Zal Yanovsky, Canadian guitarist (The Lovin' Spoonful) (d. 2002)
1945 - Elaine Joyce, American actress
1946 - Robert Urich, American actor (d. 2002)
1948 - Ken Brown, Canadian ice hockey player
1949 - Nancy Kyes, American actress
1949 - Sebastian, Danish musician
1956 - Tom Lawless, baseball player
1957 - Kevin McHale, American basketball player
1957 - John Gulager, American film director
1957 - Cyril Collard, French film director (d. 1993)
1958 - Limahl, British singer (Kajagoogoo)
1960 - Mike Lookinland, American actor
1960 - Michelangelo Signorile, American writer
1961 - Eric Allin Cornell, Nobel Prize laureate
1961 - Matthew Waterhouse, British actor
1961 - Reggie White, American football player (d. 2004)
1963 - Jennifer Beals, American film actress
1964 - Arvydas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player
1965 - Chito Martinez, Belizean baseball player
1966 - Eric Weinrich, American ice hockey player
1966 - Alberto Tomba, Italian alpine skier
1966 - Chuckii Booker, American singer, musician and producer
1966 - Robert MacNaughton, American stage and screen actor
1967 - Criss Angel, American illusionist and escapist
1967 - Frankie Lam, Hong Kong actor
1969 - Kristy Swanson, American actress
1969 - Richard Hammond, British television presenter
1969 - Villano IV, Mexican wrestler
1970 - Tyson Beckford, American model
1971 - Tiffany Towers, Canadian adult film actress
1971 - Amy Locane, American actress
1972 - Alyssa Milano, American actress
1972 - Warren Sapp, American football player
1973 - Zulfiya Zabirova, Russian cyclist
1973 - Takashi Sorimachi, Japanese actor
1974 - Jake Plummer, American football player
1974 - Ricky Ponting, Australian test cricketer
1974 - MigÃ© Amour, Bassist for the Finnish band, HIM
1975 - Olivier Tebily, Ivorian footballer
1977 - Jorge Garbajosa, Spanish basketball player
1978 - Patrick Casey, American screenwriter and actor
1979 - Paola Rey, Colombian actress
1979 - Kevin Devine, American musician.
1980 - Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor
1980 - Marla Sokoloff, American actress
1982 - Vincent Accardi, American musician
1982 - Maurice Williams, American basketball player
1983 - Matt Stajan, NHL hockey player (Toronto Maple Leafs)
1985 - Gary Cahill, English footballer
1985 - Lady Sovereign, English musician
1987 - Karim Benzema, French footballer
1991 - Declan Galbraith, British singer

Deaths

401 - Pope Anastasius I
1075 - Edith of Wessex, wife of Edward the Confessor of England
1327 - Agnes of France, Duchess of Burgundy
1370 - Pope Urban V (b. 1310)
1737 - James Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland (b. 1667)
1741 - Vitus Bering, Danish-born explorer (b. 1681)
1745 - Jean-Baptiste van Loo, French painter (b. 1684)
1749 - Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (b. 1672)
1751 - Louise of Great Britain, wife of Frederick V of Denmark (b. 1724)
1807 - Friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm, German writer (b. 1723)
1813 - James McGill, Scottish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1744)
1814 - Joseph Bramah, Inventor and Locksmith, notably invented the beer pump
1819 - Sir Thomas Fremantle, British naval officer and politician (b. 1765)
1848 - Emily BrontÃ«, British author (b. 1818)
1915 - Alois Alzheimer, German neuroscientist (b. 1864)
1932 - Yoon Bong-Gil, Protester against Japanese occupation of Korea (executed) (b. 1908)
1938 - Stephen Warfield Gambrill, U.S. Congressman for Maryland's 5th District (b. 1873)
1939 - Hans Langsdorff, German naval officer (b. 1894)
1944 - Khedive Abbas II of Egypt (b. 1874)
1944 - Rudolph Karstadt, German entrepreneur (b. 1856)
1946 - Paul Langevin, French physicist (b. 1872)
1953 - Robert Millikan, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
1968 - Norman Thomas, American socialist (b. 1884)
1982 - Dwight Macdonald, social critic, combative journalist and anarchist (b. 1906)
1986 - V. C. Andrews, American author (b. 1923)
1989 - Stella Gibbons, British author (b. 1902)
1991 - Joe Cole (roadie), roadie for American band Black Flag, Henry Rollins' best friend (b. 1961)
1993 - Michael Clarke, American drummer (The Byrds) (b. 1946)
1996 - Marcello Mastroianni, Italian actor (b. 1924)
1997 - Masaru Ibuka, Japanese industrialist (Sony) (b. 1908)
1997 - Jimmy Rogers, American blues guitarist (b. 1924)
1999 - Desmond Llewelyn, British actor (b. 1914)
2000 - Rob Buck, American musician (10,000 Maniacs) (b. 1958)
2000 - Milt Hinton, American jazz double bassist (b. 1910)
2000 - Pops Staples, American singer (The Staple Singers) (b. 1915)
2001 - Marcel Mule, French saxophonist. (b. 1901)
2003 - Peter Carter-Ruck, British lawyer (b. 1914)
2003 - Hope Lange, American actress (b. 1931)
2004 - Herbert C. Brown, British-born American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
2004 - Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (b. 1922)
2005 - Vincent Gigante, American mafioso (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances

Roman festivals - Opalia
R.C. Saints â€“ O Radix
Independence day - Goa